BEHIND THE CAMERAS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 92, 20 April 1939, Page 21

BEHIND THE CAMERAS

vroW that' "Gone With the Wind" has been launched on its film career we may prepare ourselves for the cries of those people who will saythat "the film is nothing like the book," or that it is inferior to the book, or that it is like the cheek of the movies to try to make a film from the book. There are always those critics. Outside the theatre at which '•Pygmalion" was screening here there was a snooty young woman who declared roundly that it was an impertinence on the part of the films to attempt Shaw and Mr. Shaw himself shared the view when he was awarded the prize for the best film of the year. In this instance, this department is bound to echo Mr. Shaw's views on the subject. There was no reason to award him the prize. He did not deserve the prize. It should have gone to the gentleman who took "Pygmalion," and made a vastly better job of it. Pruned of its repetitions, infused with action where Shaw could only give dialogue (the incident of the mirror, in the bathroom for example), with a superfluous swearword removed (for you must not imagine that Shaw could abandon such a tempting theme as that opened up by Wendy Hiller's remark about not walking home), "Pygmalion" became something appreciably better. That is not' to say the film ways are above reproach. But it does seem to us that a lot of hard things are said without reason. When "Kidnapped" was filmed plenty of them were heard, and "Kidnapped" is a poor book. When 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" was made for the screen, on the other hand, the result, as one critic pointed out, could not have been more startling had "Black Beauty" been made with a white horse in the leading role. However, in this instance, it would appear that the objectors are doomed ».-.. to be disappointed because David O. Selznick, who is making "Gone With th< Wind," has already done faithful and sterling jobs on "Little Women," "David Copperfield," "A Tale of Two Cities," "The Prisoner of Zenda," and "Anna Karenina." # » » When Clark Gable left the ranks of the bachelors a little while ago, he created a problem for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and they are not done with it

yet. The problem may be posed thus what effect does marriage have on the value of a film star? In the first month of this year, or thereabouts, Hollywood lost Ronald Colman, Wayne Morris, and Nelson Eddy into the ranks of the' married, and there are weddings ahead this year for Robert Taylor, Cary Grant, and Herbert Marshall. You may not realise it but there is a very definite fear of marriage on the part of the younger stars. They are afraid of what it will do to them at the box office. And to fail at the box office, as you may know, means that a movie career can become very short. History is full of stories of people who just could not get the customers away from home. Remember May West and Marlene Dietrich, so popular for a time? And that muchboomed star (she has been called a million-dollar failure) Anna Sten? It was box office that kept Norma Shearer out of the role of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind"' —so many filmgoers wrote in and protested at the idea of her playing the part. So M.-G.-M. have frankly admitted that they will watch the influence of marriage on Nelson Eddy's career very : carefully. At the same time they do not think it will make any difference. William Powell, Errol Flynn, Spencer \ Tracy, Paul Muni, Robert Montgomery, Fred Astaire, and Robert Young have I held their ground at the box office [ even though married, so why not i others? # # ♦ > Besides the lack of Ambassadors and i commercial attaches representing the 1 United States at Berlin there will soon , be a lack of American films, it seems . from information which reaches us. ; The "incessant agitation" against Ger- , many is viewed with displeasure in , the Reich and recently, for the first ! time in years, there were no first-run : theatres in Berlin showing Hollywood , films. An anti-Nazi declaration signed ; by various American stars has also 1 led to the bitterness of the-misunder- • stood in the Third (now the Fourth) 2 Reich, and anyway the American film industry is under predominatingly Jewish influence. As a further example of how the German Government regards the American people the Olympic Games film of Leni Riefenstahl is not going to be shown in the United States because "the motion picture industry is controlled, both in production and distribution, by men who are opposed to Germany's political activities" (Leni Riefenstahl).

CAST IMPORTANT. 'Intelligence and care in casting is the all-important thing in motion pictures," declares Emile de Ruelle, production manager of "The Headleys at Home." "Of course, the selection of the story and the preparation of it are important; the proper setting and photography are essential as are careful lighting and direction. But, all this may be perfect, and, yet, if you do not have the proper actors picked for their various roles, you will not have a successful picture." Mr. de Ruelle's hand can be seen in the casting of The Headleys at Home," which is soon to be released by Action Pictures, for such notable players as Grant Mitchell, Evelyn Venable, Robert Whitney, Betty Roadman, Benny Rubin, and, Vince Barnett have leading roles m this family comedy. KNOWLES KILLS A WOLF. With bow and arrow, Patric Knowles killed a wolf in his 800-acre "back yard" near Tarzana recently, and is having the head mounted as a gift to Lucille Ball. The gift will_ serve to commemorate their association in R.K.0.-Radio's "Beauty for the Asking", featuring Miss Ball, Knowles, and Donald Woods. The big bow-and-arrow-man lives on the outskirts of Hollywood but is developing a ranch in the foothills, on which he does his own landscaping. Every weekend finds him either engaged setting out Arizona pines, Chinese yews, and other trees and shrubs, or tramping the back country with his hunting bow and arrows... The bow is a five-footer with an 851b pull, shooting clothyard arrows. Howard Hill, the champion archer, made it for Knowles last year. It if used only for hunting. CELEBRATED EUROPEAN STAR. Felix Bressart, famed Continental actor, will make his American screen debut in Universal's "Three Smart Girls Grow Up" as music teacher to Deanna Durbin. Bressart went to Hollywood six months ago from Europe, where he has been starred and featured in outstanding plays and pictures over the past fifteen years. He has appeared in Berlin, Vienna, and Paris and is recognised as one of the leading comedians and character men of the Continent. Bressart made his first screen appearance in "Peter," produced by Poe Pasternak in Vienna three years ago, with Henry Koster directing. GLORIA JEAN. Gloria Jean, ten-year-old Scranton, Pennsylvania girl, is Hollywood's latest Cinderella. A protege of Deanna Durbin, 16-year-old singing star, Gloria has been signed to a long-term contract by Universal. Brought to movieland several months ago, the girl has been coached and tested by studio experts. She will make her film bow in the title role of "The Under Pup," an elaborate Joe Pasternak production, scheduled to start on May 1. Hailed by studio officials as a potential child star, Gloria has been taken under the wing of Miss Durbin, Universal's No. 1 box-office attraction. In her first picture, the new child discovery will be surrounded with established name players, including Nan Grey, Juanita Quigley, seven-year-old starlet, and others. "The Under Pup," by I. A. R. Wylie, ran recently in "Good Housekeeping" magazine. The'story will be adapted by Grover Jones, veteran scenarist.